on the question of the waist

the waist is not a mystery. it is the narrowest point between the rib cage and the hip bone. on most women, it sits about an inch above the belly button. the ratio between that point and the widest point of the hip is what painters have been chasing for four hundred years — somewhere close to 0.7, give or take, depending on the body.

the question is not where the waist is. the question is how to honor it.

the modern instinct is to compress. tighten the fabric. pull the body inward. this works for about an hour, and then it becomes painful, and then it becomes the only thing the wearer can think about.

the older instinct — the one we are studying — was to build the line into the dress itself. a boned corselet sewn into the lining. a panel of woven structure where definition was needed. mesh and stretch where the body needed to move. the wearer's job was not to hold her own waist. the dress did that. her job was to be inside it.

the first chassis we made is one approach to this question. it will not be the last. each drop is one chapter of how we are answering it.

the obsession is the only thing that stays constant.